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In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

God's Words

Follow the Word of God
[39:18] They are the ones who examine all words, then follow the best. These are the ones whom GOD has guided; these are the ones who possess intelligence.

[39:55] And follow the best path that is pointed out for you by your Lord, before the retribution overtakes you suddenly when you least expect it.

Histories of previous communities are recited throughout the Quran, according to God’s commandment to Gabriel as this honest messenger released the Quran into Mohammad’s memory.

[7:101] We narrate to you the history of those communities: their messengers went to them with clear proofs, but they were not to believe in what they had rejected before. GOD thus seals the hearts of the disbelievers.

Concise descriptions of the efforts of prophets and messengers delivering or confirming God’s words to previous communities are recited to us. With only one exception, the transgressing communities described in Quran prior to the time the Quran was revealed to Mohammad have been annihilated, despite the fact that God’s words were offered to all of those communities, quite often supported by profound miracles. The single exception in Quran is the community Jonah warned, probably Nineveh, Iraq . That the city was Nineveh is according to previous scripture, which can no longer be relied upon absolutely.

What happened, why did these communities reject God’s words?

[5:13] It was a consequence of their violating the covenant that we condemned them, and we caused their hearts to become hardened. Consequently, they took the words out of context, and disregarded some of the commandments given to them. You will continue to witness betrayal from them, excepting a few of them. You shall pardon them, and disregard them. GOD loves those who are benevolent.

There are numerous verses found in Quran which discuss covenants, some are for specific purposes, but there is one covenant in particular which stands out as being universal to all people:

[36:60] Did I not covenant with you, O Children of Adam, that you shall not worship the devil? That he is your most ardent enemy?

[7:172] Recall that your Lord summoned all the descendants of Adam, and had them bear witness for themselves: "Am I not your Lord?" They all said, "Yes. We bear witness." Thus, you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, "We were not aware of this."

We learn from these verses that God has covenanted with all children of Adam - all humans on earth – that He is our lord and we would not worship the devil. So what does this mean?

To start with, the singular is used as God describes the devil as our most ardent enemy. We know from other verses in Quran this refers to Iblis. The histories God recites don’t point-blank inform us that previous communities were knowingly worshiping Satan, but they do inform us those communities rejected God’s words. Is this one and the same thing? Well, without going that far, but the latter must certainly put us at risk of the former. Given the consequences, it seems a fair premise that worshiping anything or anyone other than God puts us at risk of violating our covenant with God. So, how do we avoid following the footsteps of previous communities? How do we avoid violating our covenant with God and end up worshiping Satan? It stands to reason that following God’s words to us is the one sure way to avoid worshiping other than God. Sure enough, this idea is the central consistent message all messengers and prophets have brought us from God. The first commandment in each scripture tells us to devote our worship absolutely to God alone. How do we know this? When, as the Quran informs us, our final dispensation is either hell or redemption, what we worship is something we need to be certain of.

Praise God, this present community, this very generation of humans, has been blessed with proof of a scripture containing God’s own words to us, complete and intact.

[6:115] The word of your Lord is complete,* in truth and justice. Nothing shall abrogate His words. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient.
*6:113-115 Upholding any source beside the Quran reflects disbelief in the Quran (Appendix 18).

[7:158] Say, "O people, I am GOD's messenger to all of you. To Him belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. There is no god except He. He controls life and death." Therefore, you shall believe in GOD and His messenger, the gentile prophet, who believes in GOD and His words. Follow him, that you may be guided.

[22:24] They have been guided to the good words; they have been guided in the path of the Most Praised.

These Are All the Words We Need
[31:27] If all the trees on earth were made into pens, and the ocean supplied the ink, augmented by seven more oceans, the words of GOD would not run out. GOD is Almighty, Most Wise.

Wonderful! But just having these words is not enough to guarantee redemption, does not guarantee we will not violate our covenant with God. Just having these words does not guarantee we will not be duped into worshiping something or someone other than God.

It is clear from the recited histories in Quran that past communities rejected God’s words. Are we not at risk of doing the same thing? It would be arrogant to assume we of the Submitters' Community have some special immunity because we have a proven source of God’s words. Now that we have these words, we are admonished by God to study them carefully, and to follow no other source beside the Quran.

[18:27] You shall recite what is revealed to you of your Lord's scripture. Nothing shall abrogate His words, and you shall not find any other source beside it.

The Quran is All We Need
[12:111] In their history, there is a lesson for those who possess intelligence. This is not fabricated Hadith; this (Quran) confirms all previous scriptures, provides the details of everything, and is a beacon and mercy for those who believe.

Quran: Our Means to Salvation
[17:9] This Quran guides to the best path, and brings good news to the believers who lead a righteous life, that they have deserved a great recompense.

God's Messenger of the Covenant
[5:19] O people of the scripture, our messenger has come to you, to explain things to you,after a period of time without messengers, lest you say, "We did not receive any preacher or warner." A preacher and warner has now come to you. GOD is Omnipotent.*

[2:151] (Blessings) such as the sending of a messenger from among you to recite our revelations to you, purify you, teach you the scripture and wisdom, and to teach you what you never knew.

Aside from the fact that reciting the word of God encompasses explaining, preaching, and clarifying when looked at in the light of the overall context of the Quran, 5:19 and 2:151 don't by any means add any holiness to a messengers' materials. Messengers don’t claim any divinity for themselves, but they do know the words of God they are sent to deliver or confirm are divine. Their attempts to convey the teachings and wisdom of the word of God should NEVER be considered as an additional source of law. Drawing clear lines between a fallible man-made word and the divine infallible word of God defines the difference between idol worship and absolute devotion to God alone.

[3:79] Never would a human being whom GOD blessed with the scripture and prophethood say to the people, "Idolize me beside GOD." Instead, (he would say), "Devote yourselves absolutely to your Lord alone," according to the scripture you preach and the teachings you learn.
[3:80] Nor would he command you to idolize the angels and the prophets as lords. Would he exhort you to disbelieve after becoming submitters?

[55:1] The Most Gracious.
[55:2] Teacher of the Quran.
[55:3] Creator of the human beings.
[55:4] He taught them how to distinguish.

[75:16] Do not move your tongue to hasten it.
[75:17] It is we who will collect it into Quran.
[75:18] Once we recite it, you shall follow such a Quran.
[75:19] Then it is we who will explain it.

The “we” in 75:19 does not include any human messengers.

Even the messenger who unveiled the mathematical proof of Quran emphasizes that we must not use any other source besides the proven word of God as a source of guidance. To ignore this would literally be disobeying the messenger God sent.

Quran: The ONLY Source
[17:46] We place shields around their minds, to prevent them from understanding it, and deafness in their ears. And when you preach your Lord, using the Quran alone,* they run away in aversion.

The footnote for the above verse supports Rashad's assertion in the subtitle with the mathematical "proof". Here, I use the term proof not in a strictly logical sense but in the sense of messengers being supported by proofs from God.

*17:46 The Arabic word "alone" refers to God in 7:70, 39:45, 40:12,84, and 60:4. If you add these numbers, you get 361, 19x19. But if you include 17:46, which refers to the Quran, the product is not a multiple of 19. "Alone," therefore refers to the Quran in 17:46 (Appendix 18).

This subtitle translates to "The messenger of the covenant has instructed the submitters to use the Quran alone as a source of guidance". Notice the word "only" is emphasized in all caps in the subtitle. It is only wishful thinking of some to believe that Rashad meant for this to be questioned or construed to mean something else. There are no exceptions, no 'buts' or 'ifs'. To obey the messenger would be to discontinue accepting any other source besides the Quran itself as an infallible authority on the path God offers us.

This leaves only two options when it comes to the footnotes, appendices, and recorded materials from Rashad:

1) These are not to be used as an infallible source of guidance, but must be verified in light of Quran. In this, the case has been made by God in the Quran and confirmed by Rashad, that only the Arabic Quran is infallible.

2) The second option is to consider the footnotes, appendices, and recorded materials from Rashad as part of the Quran. In order to adopt this option, one would have to completely ignore the fact that the footnotes, appendices, and recorded materials of Rashad do not exist in the Arabic Quran. And one would have to accept that Rashad was given a new scripture, that he was sent by God to add to the Quran.

This second option cannot be supported in light of the Quran. Any attempt to do so amounts to proclaiming disbelief in the Quran. This second option is the embryo of idol worship. For any who can see, it is dangerous misguidance.

Now this second option can be seen as an objective when considering whether to bar the use of the Arabic text of the Quran as the only ultimate truth. Whether the individuals who support this preposterous course are aware of the premise it is based on or not is another matter, even though we have witnessed this second option professed verbally and in writing.

God has explained an important fact to us in the verse immediately preceding that of the present analysis:

Disbelievers Cannot Understand Quran
[17:45] When you read the Quran, we place between you and those who do not believe in the Hereafter an invisible barrier.

Here, the subtitle seems to be included more as an easy way to find topics, serving as a kind of highlight of the subject in the verse. It doesn't add anything to meaning. The verse immediately following 17:46 describes the behavior of those who don't believe in the Hereafter towards people who advocate using the Quran alone.

[17:47] We are fully aware of what they hear, when they listen to you, and when they conspire secretly - the disbelievers say,"You are following a crazy man."

We have witnessed this behavior in those who profess the second option. God Himself has explained very clearly in these 3 verses who it is that follows the path of the second option, and who it is that attacks those who insist on using Quran alone - disbelievers.

God has also given us guidance in Quran for what to do when encountering disbelievers.

That exploration will be left for another reminder, God willing. For now, and since the reminder benefits the believers, this verse is once more the choice to remind with:

Follow the Word of God
[39:18] They are the ones who examine all words, then follow the best. These are the ones whom GOD has guided; these are the ones who possess intelligence.